Missing
by fire-emblem-girl
Summary: AU. It's been a year since Vincent's girlfriend Lucrecia went missing. Will she ever come back or is she gone forever? sorry, bad summary.R&R if you want!
1. Default Chapter

Missing.

hello people that read my fanfictions! firstly i will tell you that i will eventually finish my other fanfic just not now. this will be a multi-chapter fic maybe around 5 or 6. i'm not entirely sure as of yet. i have 3 other chapters ready to type up so you have those to look forward to. however due to the fact that my computer is being a bugger i may not be able to update for a while because i will have to type the chapters up all at once i think(they are quite lengthy). there may be some coarse language in here but i'm not really sure. all horrible language coming out of Cid's mouth will be random symbols for authenticity(he he...) this is not a songfic of evanescence's song missing i just couldn't think of a good title. this is AU so if you don't like that...then too bad. i have blatently disregarded the character's ages and chucked em all into high school and they may be out of character simply because they will be teens(in other words evil and nasty). anyway, on with it!

Vincent's POV.

Vincent shifted the bulk of the weight of his backpack to his other shoulder. He'd had some much homework lately that school had begun to lose its appeal. Regardless of whether he enjoyed to going or not he had to. Not only was it the law, his parents would kill him if he skipped school. Still, school usually just brought back memories and painful ones at that. His girlfriend Lucrecia had gone missing and there was little hope that she was still alive. Well, at least in other people's minds.

It had been over a year since he'd said goodnight to her after seeing a movie on the day of their eight month anniversary . The next morning she was gone, vanished without a trace. Vincent had been a suspect after the initial realization that Lucrecia hadn't just run away. The police were still keeping their eye on him saying that he could have killed her after they got in a fight and she'd broken up with him. None of that was true though. He didn't have the guts to kill anyone or anything, Vincent loved Lucrecia he couldn't hurt her even if he tried.

Just thinking of her now, a year later, made him almost unbearably sad. _Lucrecia..._ Vincent struggled to get his wallet out of his pocket. He opened it and pulled out a picture.

The young woman with dark hair smiled at him, the person behind the camera. It used to be just them but now it was them and the rest of the world. Everybody had wanted to know everything about them after she had disapeared. Had they ever fought or not talked to each other for a few days? But he hadn't told them anything. It wasn't any of their buisiness what they did or whether or not they got in arguments.

"Where have you gone Lucrecia? Will you ever come back?"

He asked the picture the same question everyday but never got an answer. It was foolish to believe a photograph could reply but he still asked.

He carefully placed the picture back in his wallet and continued walking to school.

Vincent's neighbourhood was fairly quiet except for the stoner kids at the corner who thought they were gangsters and gave people trouble on occasion. Most of the houses looked similar, three storeys or less with basements and attics. Vincent's own house was three storeys not including the basement. He slept in the attic which was fairly big, there was enough room for him anyway.

The school Vincent went to was fairly large and actually new. The sitting area inside the school took up a fair chunk of the first floor, as did the gym. Both were areas that Vincent avoided almost entirely now. People were in the forum and those people talked and stared.

He entered the building from the west entrance that led across the football feild and straight down the stairs from there was Vincent's locker.

"Hey! Vince, wait up, don't walk so $#&ing fast!" A voice came from behind him. Vincent didn't have to look, he knew exactly who was calling him. Cid. The twelfth grader was the only person who called him Vince on a regular basis.

Vincent slowed down slightly but continued walking. If Cid really wanted to talk to him that badly he'd try and catch up. Obviously he had because when Vincent got to his locker Cid had finally reached him.

The tough looking twelfth grader always had a cigarette in his mouth, even in the school halls when he could get away with it. Now, of course, was no exception. His blonde hair was always untidy but it paled in comparison to their other friend Cloud's long but spikey hair.

"Why do you walk so $#&ing fast?" Cid exclaimed, clearly out of breath.

"I don't find my pace to be any faster than that of any other person. Maybe if you didn't smoke so much your heart wouldn't be under so much stress."

"Ah shut up. You're startin' to sound like Shera for christ sakes," Cid muttered to himself.

Vincent didn't say anything to that. Cid always made a sort of sport out of trying to get him angry and speak more often.

" Ah, whatever. Just meet me in the Goddamn forum in...10 minutes," Cid said and walked away.

Cid never asked, he _told _you what you were going to do even if he knew that you wouldn't do what he said. Mainly Vincent. He wouldn't go into the forum and Cid knew that all to well. It would be at least the 4th time Vincent had been told to meet Cid in the forum and the fourth time he wouldn't go.

Vincent gathered the books that he needed for the first part of the school day and headed to his first class. History was okay as far as classes went, not boring but not that interesting either. The teacher was nice enough though, almost too nice. It was really the students that bothered him. Even though the police had cleared his name long ago they still sometimes whispered about him as if they had some insane notion that if they kept their voices low that he wouldn't hear them which was completely untrue. He could hear every word they said but of course he didn't say anything to let that on.

As he walked into the classroom the few that got there early gave him a long wary stare except Aeris. How she got to the class so quickly with Cloud following her everywhere Vincent had no clue. Instead of staring like the rest she smiled and called him to sit beside her.

"Vincent, come sit beside me today?"

He nodded and disregarded the looks that his classmates gave him as he over to a desk to the left of Aeris'.

Aeris was one of the nicest people he had ever met. She never judged people or did any of the stupid petty things other girls did like gossip. With her long braid of brown hair and green hair Aeris was quite popular with the boys. She listened to their pleas to go out with them but then told them she had a boyfriend already. Alot of the people that had asked her actually became her friend afterwards and she told them not to beg if they wanted a girl to go out with them. She was just like that, a people person.

"So did you get the homework finished?" She asked after he sat down.

Vincent nodded and unzipped his history binder. There had only been a few questions to do so he had gotten them done last night.

"Oh, Cid told me to tell you, you're in big trouble for not meeting him," Aeris said, imitating Cid's slightly raspy voice.

Vincent didn't say or do anything. He didn't care if Cid said he was in trouble, it was all an ongoing joke anyway. He didn't care if he got kicked out of school or if people talked about him. None of that mattered, those were such small things not worth his concern.

"Are you alright Vincent? You seem sort of sad today."

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. "... No more than any other day."

"Oh, I see. Well me and Cloud are going to see a movie on Saturday, do you want to come along?" Aeris asked kindly.

_Go with you and ruin your date? You may not care but Cloud probably would. Why would I do that anyway? _Instead of saying something like that he just shook his head. "No, that's alright."

She shrugged "Okay then."

Aeris was one of the few who didn't get offended when he refused an invitation. She understood, didn't she? It didn't matter if she did or not, she at least acted as though she did. That was the complete opposite of Cid, he tried to force him to go out almost weekly. Tifa did too but she didn't get angry like Cid did, she just pleaded with him until she finally gave up. Either way he still said no. He didn't want to go out, he didn't want to see other people happy, together.

The class started and the teacher put on an overhead for them to copy. Somethign about some battle on some field. Vincent actually paid attention, only because he was sitting next to someone.

His next class was English. In that course he could sit there and write whatever he wanted as long as it looked similar to the work he was supposed to be doing. It also happened to be the class that none of his friends were in so therefore he could sit there writing his poetry in peace. He never let anyone but Lucrecia read it because she seemed to be the only one that appreciated it for what it was.

"What are you writing Vincent?" his teacher asked. He hadn't even heard her come up beside him.

"Words."

"Do any of these words of yours happen to be related in any way to Julius Caesar?" she asked, giving him a look that said ' do your assigned work!'

"It depends on how you look at them I suppose."

He had nothing in particular against the teacher, he had nothing against anyone, he just didn't feel like dealing with people.

"Yes,well, just do your work," she said, and that was it. That was how it was for many of his teachers whether they did the same thing for everyone he didn't know but usually after his replies they lost their nerve and left him alone for the rest of the class.

So instead of doing his work Vincent returned to writing the poem he had been working on. That's what he did until fourth period which was his lunch period.

As usual he ran into Tifa in the hall and the Barret soon afterwards.

"Yo, Tifa! You done the math homework?"

The short girl sighed but nodded. "Let me guess Barret, your little sister ripped it up."

"How'd you know?"

That was Barret's excuse everytime he didn't do his homework even though everyone knew his younger sister Marlene didn't rip things up. Naturally Barret still claimed that she did.

Barret was a heavyset 11th grader with dark skin and hair. He, like Cid, got easily angered and defensive, not to mention a large "vocabulary" but he was a good guy.

"Barret, can I meet you in the cafe? I've got to go do something!" Tifa said and ran off before Barret could answer or even protest.

"...Women," Barret grumbled to himself.

Vincent didn't say anything. He knew people didn't exactly jump at the chance to have to strike up a conversation when they were around him, he'd heard that from his classmates of course. _Well I'm glad people don't like to talk to me, I don't need to speak to them or even have them around. Except...Lucrecia... _he thought flatly.

Once in the cafe Vincent and Barret found a seat at one of them the tables. Barret went to go get some lunch from the food counters.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Tifa.

"Hi Vincent, you don't have a lunch again?"

"I didn't pack one," he answered. He was never hungry anymore. The only reason he ate dinner and breakfast was because his parents were watching him, especially his mother.

Tifa knew that when he said he didn't pack a lunch it meant that he wasn't hungry and he didn't want to eat.

She sat down across from him with her usual lunch, a bagel with a bottled water. Barret returned too with a grilled cheese, cookies and a pop. Tifa and Barret were talking amiably while they waited for Cloud.

"Hey, there's that pokey headed bugger now. Cloud, get your spikey ass over here!"

Barret always called Cloud pokey headed because of his hair that never seemed to get flattened down, Aeris had tried many times without success.

Soon their table was loud. Too loud for Vincent's taste. Regardless of that fact he didn't leave. He wasn't in the cafe with a group of noisy teenagers, at least not in his mind.

_**"Vincent, next week is our eight month anniversary. Do you want to go see a movie? How about that new horror one?" Lucrecia said with a faint smile.**_

_**"8 months...yes, I suppose we should do something. A movie sounds fine. Horror movie hm? You are addicted to them aren't you?"**_

_**She laughed and took his hand. "That's not all I'm addicted to."**_

He could still hear her laugh, feel her hand on his, see her face but she wasn't here. _Lucrecia... _

Vincent sat in the same place for the whole lunch period. His left arm hung at his side. He didn't really use it alot because it was just a claw like apparatus. Vincent had been sickly as a child and when he had gotten a praticularly bad illness his left arm had had to be amputated. The only way to keep the rest of his arm was to wear the prosthesis.

The day was over. Vincent was at his locker, the same place his school day began it ended. Cid always seemed to find him there no matter how hard Vincent tried to avoid him. Naturally, as always, Cid was waiting there for him.

"Hey Vince. Did Aeris tell you? You're in trouble! Why didn't you $#&ing meet me? $#&!"

Vincent shrugged but otherwise gave no indication that he'd heard.

"$#& Vince! Just $#&ing go in the forum!"

He didn't say anything to Cid but waited patiently as the twelfth grader ranted on and on. Vincent gathered his books that he needed to use for homework as Cid gave him a lecture. When Cid finished Vincent left as quickly as humanly possible. Of course that would probably lead to another lecture tomorrow but that was then and this was now.

He walked home slowly. What did it matter how quickly or slowly he got home? His parents would just bother him about school and everything else for that matter. But even though his parents constantly bothered him, home still reminded him of Lucrecia. He remembered the first time he'd met her parents and she'd met his.

Vincent's room contrasted sharply to the rest of the house. Everywhere but his room was painted white or some pastel colour. Vincent's bedroom was black, black and red. There was only one dim light so it was always dark. Plus there was dark wood blinds so his room always remained as dark as possible. That was where he stayed until dinner and then after that he didn't leave until morning when the cycle started again. There was no point going downstairs and pretending to be happy even though he wasn't, even though that's what his parent's expected of him. No point at all, pointless, that was how everything seemed these days. _Existance itself, is that pointless too? _he wondered, _no, if he was dead he would never see Lucrecia again._

Vincent lay there on his bed in the darkness not doing anything. It didn't matter, no one called him(not that he would talk if they did), he didn't care for television or video games so really there was nothing to do in every sense of the word. It was always dark around him, even when there were lights on.

Soon his mother called him for dinner and he went even though he didn't want to. Vincent didn't pretend he was hungry or that he was happy, he wasn't.

They were sitting at the dinner table without saying a word. Maybe it was some sort of miracle, his mother hadn't asked him about school yet. He obviously thought too soon because she asked him.

"So Vincent, how was your day at school?" his mother asked awkwardly.

He didn't answer. She knew the answer to that question, horrible.

"Did you meet anyone new today?" she asked. _Why won't she just give up?_

"No. I hope I never do."

"Why do you say that? I'm sure there are some nice people in your classes," his mother said. She was on a roll tonight, one question after another. He had to make a decision, either ignore her or make her feel guilty enough that she'd leave him alone.

"I say it because it's how I feel. There are nice people in my classes I'm sure but I already know them. I'm supposed to talk about my feelings so I don't have breakdown right?" Vincent replied coldly.

"Don't talk to your mother like that," his father said. It was only a warning though, his father didn't do anything.

He just got up then and left the table with his half empty plate. He put it in the fridge before his mother could tell him to. She hated waste and though he probably wouldn't eat the food anyway she still told Vincent not to throw it out.

He returned to is room and continued laying there in the dark. He had homework to do but who really cared? It was only math anyway. His class was full of people that didn't do their homework and talked all class. What would him not doing his work change?

So he went to sleep. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep. Maybe when he woke up everything would be alright, back to normal.

* * *

PHEW! finally! this took me forever to type up! my neck is killing me truthfully, he he, i typed it pretty much all in one go. anyway, tell me how you liked it. oh, by the way bold italics represents memories and regular italics is just thoughts. Constructive critism only please. right, and I know Vincent's quite the little bugger in this but who can blame him? not I. :P anyway, that's all, it may take me a bit to update because i have other fics to work on and plus the chapters are pretty long. I'll never try and type one out all at once again! oh and yes, the chapters will be beggining with Vincent waking up and him going to sleep EVERY chapter because it's like a day in the life of him sort of thing. that's all, see you next chapter! R&R please! 


	2. Chapter 2

Missing

Wow!I got a review! YAY! And here i was thinking no one would read this:) Anyway, review response!

Last Cetra: I'm glad you took the time to read and review! A sulky romeo eh?well, alright, i wasn't sure how other people would see how he acts. But it's true, Vincent is not the fonz(...that'd be weird!)

Italics are for thoughts and bold italics are for memories, get used to it, Vincent will be remembering alot.

Chapter 2

He slept and slept but nothing ever got any better. He had nightmares every night and went through hell everyday. Even now he had just woken up after a nightmare but he couldn't remember anything other than it was horrible. Somehow he always managed to wake up just before his mother called him.

"Vincent, time to get up!"

He got out of bed and walked over to his dresser. He pulled out a new pair of black pants and a black shirt. Vincent took his wallet out of the pants he was wearing and put it in the new pair. Now for the hard part. There was no way that his left arm would fit through the sleeve of his shirt so he had to remove the prosthectic, put his shirt on and then put the bloody claw back on. He didn't care if he lost the rest of his arm, it'd be easier having no arm at all than having a fake one. But his parents had made the decision for him that he wouldn't lose his left arm.

Vincent went downstairs and got a small bowl of cereal. His mother eyed him, he knew what that meant. Counselling tonight.

His parents had made that decision for him too. They thought Vincent was lashing out at them because he refused to come to terms with Lucrecia's disapearance, maybe he thought she was dead, they didn't know. None of that was it. Vincent wasn't lashing out because Lucrecia was missing. His parents kept trying to intorduce him to people and they didn't leave him alone. They sent him to a phyciatrist to "deal" with his "problems". He knew that Lucrecia was alive he could feel it. Nobody believed him, nobody had hope, they all thought she was never coming back and that he was crazy for even thinking that she was.

He ate very slowly to pass the time but he hardly ate any of the food before going to the bathroom and brusing his teeth. After brushing his long black hair Vincent headed for school.

Cid of course had gone out of his way to be waiting for Vincent as soon as he got to his locker(as usual). The older guy did not look impressed for some reason or another.

"Vincent. What the hell'd you run away for?"

_Oh, was that it? Well, I suppose I should prepare for a fight or something._

"I don't need a lecture..." Vincent murmured.

"I think you do Vince. You're #&ed up bad."

Vincent didn't say anything. Why didn't everyone have to bother him? Why couldn't they just leave him alone? That was all he wanted, for people to let him be.

"Are you listening?" Cid asked angrily.

He remained quiet. No one understood what was going on with him, they all thought they did but they didn't. They were just fooling themselves. Vincent ignored Cid's yelling and got his books. Then he stalked away without a word. Cid came after him which wasn't surprising, the twelfth grader hated when people walked away when he wasn't finished speaking. He grabbed Vincent by the shoulder. Vincent turned around and glared at him. He didn't drop his gaze until Cid let go of him.

"Don't touch me."

"Vincent don't go on one of your #&ing... ...things!" Cid yelled.

Vincent said nothing and tried to walk away again. Cid grabbed his arm.

"Don't touch me..."

"You're being an asshole! Everyone is trying to #&ing help you but you keep pushin' all of us away!" Cid growled.

"I don't want help and I don't _need _help. If I _wanted _help I would have asked for it."

Vincent clenched his fists. Why didn't Cid take no for an answer? The answer was simple. Because it was Cid. He didn't want to fight him, but he would if he had to. But he just wanted to be left alone. Was that so difficult to understand? He didn't need help from anyone. Not his friends, and certainly not a counseller. He wasn't grieving or angry. Vincent just gave Cid a look that said ' If you come after me I'll beat the crap out of you.' then left.

Cid just shook his head and turned the opposite way that Vincent was walking in.

_So first I had to deal with his friends, which shouldn't be an issue, they are my friends...I shouldn't _have _to keep repeating myself over and over and now I had to deal with my psychiatrist _he thought. His day had gone worse than usual. First Cid had bothered him then everyone had to as well. Vincent had been happy to just sit in class staring into space and writing.

"How was your day?" his mother askd as they drove to the psychiatrist's office.

"Puppies frolicked in fields of wildflowers and butterflies flew around me all day."

That was just the answer he gave to throw her off sometimes. According to his shrink he was a sarcastic person. Not only did Vincent's answers throw his mother through a loop, her responses were always award winners.

"...Vincent I wish you would talk to me. Tell me how you feel."

_That's what a psychiatrist is for apparently,_ he thought.

His psyciatrist was a middle aged man who probably needed a girlfriend really badly if he sat and listened to teens with issues all day. Hell, he probably had his own shrink. The man thought he looked pretty cool and hip with his hair(or what was left of it) spiked up but Vincent thought he was an old man remembering his glory days; back when he _had_ hair to spike up.

"So Vincent, how have you been lately?" the psyciatrist, Dr. Roberts asked in his usual laid back manner.

Vincent didn't answer. He wouldn't give the man the satisfaction of getting an answer out of him. Not yet. Instead he looked around the room.

Blue walls and light wood furniture. There were certificates on the wall behind Dr.Roberts' desk. Certificate of graduation from some university of psycology.

"Your mother tells me you've been staying in your room alot since the last time we talked."

'The last time we talked." That statement made it seem as though Vincent had willingly started counselling. He wondered who in their right mind would want to come and speak with some person who thought they understood what was going on with them when in reality that person had no clue. Vincent figured that beign a psychiatrist had to be one of the easiest jobs there was. All one had to do was listen to people drone on about their horrible lives or in Vincent's case, sit there and let a patient waste time by not talking. Apparently psychiatrists got paid fairly well so it was a win - win situation for everyone. Parents get an hour away from their messed up kids, psychiatrist wastes his or her time but gets paid good money for doing so. What a life.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

He'd answer this one. He always did. He always gave a different response everytime he came here. If Vincent had to come to the wonderful doctor for much longer then maybe he would either have to answer truthfully or just not speak at all, it could go either way really, it didn't much matter to him.

"Nothing, unless you count me wanting to talk abut leaving here and never coming back."

"I'm afraid you don't have that luxury. You're here until you tell me your feelings," Dr. Roberts said with a shrug.

_Then we'll be here a long time, _Vincent thought.

"Just tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I'm thinking of how much I want people to just leave me alone..." Vincent said to himself. Whether or not Dr.Roberts heard that statement or not was irrelevant. One statement would change nothing really, in this case anyway.

"Why do you think that?"

_You didn't ask _why_ I think what I do you asked _what_ I was thinking _Vincent thought to himself. Why did adults think kids were so stupid? Vincent was perfectly aware that Dr. Roberts was attempting to get him to talk more, he thought that he had nearly reached his word quota for this session.

The doctor seemed to be waiting for a response, rather an audible response. Vincent would give him one. No pyschiatrist was going to get the better of him or become privy to his own personal thoughts. Nobody needed to know what he was thinking or why it was that he was thinking that.

_**"Hey, what would you say if I told you that I love you?" Lucrecia asked with a smile.**_

_**"Are you saying it or just asking a question?" Vincent replied, raising an eyebrow.**_

_**She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Saying it of course. I hope we stay together forever."**_

_**Vincent smiled back at her."I love you too then."**_

"Are you listening?" Dr.Roberts asked. He sounded slightly annoyed.

Vincent snapped back to reality, the doctor was standing right in front of him. He shrugged in response to the older man's question.

"Do you think she's coming back?" Dr. Roberts asked with a sigh.

"No. I think she's dead. Somebody's killed her and now they've hidden her body somewhere in a rural area. That's what usually happens in these cases, is it not?"

Dr.Roberts looked at him. A warning glance maybe? Vincent could care less. What did it matter if the shrink thought he was crazy? That was his job, to find mental kids and try to make them tell him exactly what they were thinking and feeling. Robots.

"Yes. Lucrecia is dead, I just know it. Her body is probably half decayed by now."

"Oh? Have the polce informed you that she is dead?" Dr. Roberts asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"No, but when you know someone long enough you just tend to know these things. Do you know what I mean?"

The doctor frowned slightly. "Why do you feel that way?"

Vincent didn't answer. Why was this guy still asking stupid questions?

"Well, if you aren't going to tell the truth then maybe we should end this session for today," Dr. Roberts said as if it was something Vincent would actually care about.

Vincent was sitting on a chair in the corner of Dr. Roberts' office. Sometimes he lied one the floor and stared up at the ceiling just to annoy the good doctor.

"I've heard you write poetry. May I read it sometime?"

"If you can get you hands on it, by all means, " Vincent said casually.

He didn't mind if people read his poems, they were only words after all. But he didn't exactly feel as comfortable allowing adults to read his work, they didn't understand. He was a hypocrite really. But...what did it matter? When people read his poems they tended to feel awkward, as if they had intruded on his thoughts somehow he guessed. It was a bit stupid to think that. He wouldn't have wrote the poems if he didn't want people to know how he was feeling when he wrote it. Regardless, he hated talking about those feelings. It was fine if people saw the emotions expressed but he didn't like to talk about them afterwards. What was the point?

"That's it for today then"

Vincent got up and left the room before Dr. Roberts could say anything more. If it was taken as rude behaviour then maybe it was, but the doctor knew Vincent didn't like to come to his office so he shouldn't expect him to be nice. His mother was in the waiting room, he always wondered why she stuck around, maybe she went somewhere, he didn't know or care.

"Oh, Vincent. How did your session go?"

"Apparently I am completely insane and need to be put in a mental hospital where I will waste away until the of my inevitable death. Naturally I would be put in a straight jacket and stuck in a dark room with padded walls," He answered. Everytime he said something like that his mother got a look on her face like she was scared or something.

"Don't say that honey."

He didn't say anything. Neither did his mother, at least not until they got to the car.

"Why do you have to be so morbid?And in public! Normal people don't say things like that! Why do you care so much what happens to that girl? What about your family and friends? Don't you know we're worried about you?" She cried angrily.

What a fool._ Perhaps mother dearest if you hadn't ignored the obvious you would know that Lucrecia and I..._

"I don't care."

"Well start! Everyone tries so hard for you but you don't even care!" She yelled, tears beggining to roll down her cheeks.

He just looked at her for a moment then opened the car door and got out.

"I never asked for help," he whispered.

Vincent couldn't stand when people did that, tried to get pity from others. Why didn't people just ask if they wanted sympathy? Then everyone would know exactly whom to feel sorry for and everything would work out.

He decided he'd walk home. He didn't think he could take another lecture from someone today. If his father decided to give him a "talking to" Vincent might just explode. That was not a preferable situation. He sometimes got so angry that he couldn't control himself, that was why he tried not to feel anything at all. He always kept his emotions in check.

Vincent didn't even know if he was going the right way to get home, it didn't matter really. He just walked until he got tired.

_Lucrecia...Where did you go? Will I ever find you?_

He didn't want to walk anymore. What difference did it make whether he went home or if he stayed where he was? He walked over to the curb and sat down. His kness came most of the way up his torso in this position. He felt shorter. Why that was relevant to anything he wasn't sure, insanity tended to do that to someone. Make them notice things other people didn't or couldn't. Vincent encircled his legs with his right arm. _Why did this have to happen? Who has taken Lucrecia, has she just run away? _He didn't want to believe that she had run away, left everybody behind. _Was it been because of me?_ Maybe she wanted to find someone that wouldn't write poetry that made people give the authour strange looks and her glances that screamed "You're actually going out with him? Poor you!" Maybe she wanted someone who was sure of what they would do in life, someone that would make lots of money. That was a lie if he ever heard one. Lucrecia had told him how she felt all the time so why was he thinking such things about her?Why did he have to desicrate her memory?

He took her picture out of his wallet and sighed. _Lucrecia...Did you just run away or were you kidnapped? Are you still alive or...did you die somewhere...Are you all alone wherever you are? _He didn't want to think of her dead, he would have hope that she would come back. But if she had been murdered...what would happen then? He would be chasing a foolish dream. Vincent felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around to see who who it was. There was a girl standing there. She had dark hair and had a smile on her face.

"Hello, what's your name and why are you sitting on the curb?"

Vincent didn't answer for a moment. This girl...Lucrecia...so similar...they were almost exactly alike... He almost wanted to call her name. For a moment he saw _her_ standing before him.

"Um...Hello?" the girl asked awkwardly.

Vincent blinked and saw the girl still smiling at him.

"My name is Vincent."

"Oh...Weren't you the guy in the news awhile back?" the girl asked, a thoughtful look on her face.

He said nothing to that. The news had gotten him and his family enough attention already. It was bad enough people had hounded him a year ago but now they still remembered and it had been so long ago. Why did people still remember him?

"Vincent Valentine right? Have they given you any new information about your friend?" she asked.

Why did people have to questions, why couldn't they leave him alone?

"The police would probably give the public any new information on Lucrecia before they informed me," he answered emotionlessly. Maybe if he was cold towards her she'd leave.

"Really? That's kind of rude, I mean jeez. You _know _her!" the girl cried, obviously surprised.

"It is procedure. There's nothing that can be done about it."

She snorted. "Procedure. That's just a fancy word to cover up their own inability to have compassion for victims."

Vincent wondered why the girl thought that. Usually people had the utmost confidence in the police. But not him, really he never had. He hated the police. They said they were investigating crimes but they weren't.

"My name is Julie by the way. I hope that your friend Lucrecia comes back soon," the girl said.

So, someone still believed that Lucrecia could come back. Either that or she was lying to him, very well actually.

_**Vincent looked on indifferently as a boy he knew to have a girlfriend kissed another girl. Why someone would do that he didn't know. What was the point of having a person, girlfriend or boyfriend, if you went and screwed around on them with someone else. But that was just how it was now a days. No one really loved or hated each other. Everyone had become so desensitized that nobody could really feel any sort of emotionat all. **_

_**He walked past the couple and stopped as he spotted someone he knew very well. Lucrecia, she was in Vincent's english class. She was usually fairly quiet but right now she was screaming. Her boyfriend, that scumbag Hojo, had his hand raised. **He's going to hit her. Do something, help her._

_**Vincent walked quickly to where Hojo was yelling something and grabbed his upraised hand.**_

_**"Leave her alone Hojo."**_

_**The black haired guy just laughed. "What's this? A little admirer of yours Lucrecia?"**_

_**The girl didn't answer but backed away from the two boys.**_

_**"Don't you know that hitting people is wrong, or did you miss that lesson?" Vincent asked without loosening his vicelike grip on Hojo's arm, "Oh, nevermind, it was probably today in the class you're skipping."**_

_**"Don't you know that chivalry is dead? Mind your own goddamn buisness!"**_

_**"Get out of here Hojo," Vincent said quietly and released his hold on Hojo's forearm.**_

_**The boy sneered and ran off. To get a Vice Principal no doubt. **_

_**Vincent turned his attention to Lucrecia. She looked at him. Her face was white as a sheet but she smiled slightly. **_

_**"Thank you Vincent...He wouldn't have hit me...He wouldn't..."**_

_**Somehow he doubted that. Hojo's intention had been to give her a slap or a punch in the face, that was clear. That was another thing that confused him. How could people hit their loved ones? An even better question was, why did the people being hit always choose to stay around the person abusing them? He'd never understand that.**_

_**"I have to get to class, see you in english," Lucrecia said and walked away. **_

He'd gotten detention for a week because of that incident. But it had been worth it. Hojo had, of course, gotten off scot free. There had been no evidence apparently and of course Hojo had denied everything.

Vincent saw that Julie had taken off. Probably to call the police on him. So be it. There was no law against sitting on a curb, or at least he didn't think there was.

It was raining. The tiny droplets of water felt like pinpricks on his bare arm and face.

Soon his hair was soaked but not his clothes. It was strange how that worked. His shoes were as waterlogged as they could ever be but he could care less.

There was the sound of sirens in the distance. _Hm, maybe mother and father have already sent out a search party. _ Maybe it was some other person's family looking for their child or they came home and found they had been robbed.

Vincent continued to sit there unaware of the flashing lights, the paramedics, and the police officers around him. Someone embraced him but he didn't know who.

"Vincent! What are you doing here? Why did you run away?" It was his mother. Exactly the person that he was not exactly jumping for joy to see.

"..."

His mother. Here to take him home or to an instituition. Then she would scream at him, say how much he had worried her and his father to death, how this behaviour was outrageous and getting ridiculous.

Paramedics examined him, gave him something hot to drink and a blanket. But he didn't care, he wasn't cold.

Then the police lectured him, asked him all sorts of questions. Did he see a counseller? How many times a week did he go? What was their name? Had he seen or talked to anyone during the time he was sitting on the curb? Vincent said that nobody had approached him though he had seen people walking down the street, it was a free country after all. He was sure Julie didn't need the police knocking on her door asking about some crazed teen she'd talked to so he didn't mention her.

After the police and paramedics were done with him his parents brought him home. His father was very angry and his mother was very upset, he didn't need them to tell him, he just knew by taking a look at their faces.

"Do you know how worried we were? What's wrong with you? All this for some girl?" his father asked angrily.

Some girl. That was what she had been reduced to. Some girl. Vincent didn't answer his father's question, they just wanted to yell at him and didn't expect an answer.

"Your father is right. We know how close you two where but you have to except that your friend may be dead. I'm sorry, it's been a year honey."

Friend. That was all she was to them. First some girl and now she's a friend of his. They said he was ridiculous meanwhile they ignored the obvious. He had tried to tell them that he and Lucrecia were dating but they hadn't listened hell, he didn't know if they even gave a crap. She may be dead. What a comforting thing to say to your son. He couldn't stand it anymore. His parents ignoring the facts, saying how he was being abnormal when he had probably learned it from them and saying they understood his feelings when they obviously didn't.

"You...How do you know...How do you have any goddamn clue? You haven't the slightest idea how much Lucrecia meant to me," Vincent said coldly.

"You're being unreasonable. It has been a year. Do you have any idea how slim the odds are that she is still alive?" his father said. He had always been the harsher one. He had always been the one to punish Vincent when he was younger, his mother tried to put things gently but his father just said exactly what he meant to say.

"Are you telling me to give up hope? Wasn't it you two that taught me to never give up? Now you're telling me the complete opposite. With all these mixed signals I just might go insane," Vincent muttered.

His mother was crying again. Why did she do that? Was it to try and make people feel guilty and stop arguing? If so it wasn't very effective to actually get rid of animosity between two people, Vincent's father kept yelling. Vincent just blocked him out. He was getting into trouble again, for her. Vincent didn't care though, he'd do anything for her.

"Are you listening?" his father asked._ If he keeps doing that he'll give himself a heartattack_ Vincent thought with a mental sigh.

He shrugged his shoulders. This was exactly the behaviour that got him into trouble, or at least he thought it was. With all those mixed signals how could he tell?

Finally his parents stopped their relentless yelling and allowed him to go to his room.

The darkness of his room calmed him. He felt as though he could have lost control. Could he if he was given the chance to? Maybe. Maybe he would kill someone and not even know it. Vincent laughed at that. As much as he sometimes felt he could kill someone he doubted that he could go through with it when push came to shove. He could have never killed Lucrecia. It was a bit ludacris for the police to even suggest it. If that was so then why had the police even bothered to publicaly accuse him? Procedure, of course. He had been the last person to see Lucrecia on the night she'd disapeared so naturally he was to be a suspect even if there was no evidence against him.

Vincent lay down on his bed and pulled his book containing all of his poems from the nightstand and opened it.

So many papers. Some full on both sides, others only had a few lines used. He took a page and ripped it in half. Vincent shredded almost half of the pages until he reached one that had a red stain on it. Blood. Lucrecia had gotten a paper cut from this poem. She still said it was her favourite though. It was about her. She didn't even know but maybe that was another one of his lies. Lucrecia was not stupid, perhaps she had figured it out without him having to say anything. He hadn't told her that those were his real feelings. How he had watched from afar as someone else talked to her, held her hand but then turned around and hit her. He hadn't stalked her, it was easy to find someone when something private was happening. Vincent had been walking to class when he saw she and Hojo kiss. It wasn't unusual, alot of people made out in the stairwells and hallways of the school. When she looked his way and saw him everything felt as if it was moving in slow motion. She had blushed and waved to him awkwardly. That had happened before Hojo had almost hit her. She told him later that she had waved to get because she recognized him and wanted Hojo to stop kissing her like that in public. Vincent could hardly blame her, Hojo was a slimeball in his opinion so he could see why she would do what she did.

"This poem is so tragic, how the person can't tell the object of their affection how they feel. They have to sit there and watch as the person they like is with someone else," she had said.

Then she had gone to put the paper back and cut her finger.

Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? It had been a year and he was still haunted by memories of her. The first few months after Lucrecia's disapearance he had been unable to sleep. The doctor had finally prescribed sleeping pills which helped but Vincent had stopped taking them after only a month. He still had about half a bottle because his mother had gotten more when he hadn' been taking them.

Vincent rolled over onto his side and opened the nightstand drawer. He fished around until he found a bottle. According to the label it was not recommended to take more than two pills at a time. Not recommended. Which probably meant: "Don't take lots at a time or you may begin having convulsions and/or drop dead." To avoid that indefinately Vincent only took two pills.

Within fifteen mintues he was out like a light.

Oh my god. My back hurts! I've been slaving over the computer for the past couple days thinking(foolishly might I add) that if I spread out the workload I wouldn't be dying from pain. Long story short, it didn't. Anyway, tell me what you thought of this chapter. I'll try to update faster next time but I am not making any promises. What with my school exams and playing Fatal Frame 2(expect a fanfic of that to come) I simply have no time:P anyway, goodbye for now faithful review...er.


	3. Chapter 3

Missing 

Ah hello again! I am back, sorry I took so long to update but my computer went all screwy and I had to wait for a bit to reformat it. Anyway, to reviewer responses!

LastCetera: Thanks so much for reviewing, you are my only reviewer but that's all right you are nice. (I'm a suck up yes) anyway, I hope that this chappie is up to par, I'm not sure.

Chapter 3:

"_Vincent. When will you find me? I'm waiting for you. Please, come and find me Vincent."_

_He stared at her. How could this be happening? "Lucrecia, tell me where you are, I promise I'll come and get you, just tell me."_

_She looked back at him sadly. Lucrecia reached out her hand and he took it. He could feel the warmth her of her touch but this had to be a dream. This couldn't be happening, could it? After all, they were surrounded by nothing. The only thing he saw was her but there wasn't anything else around them that he could see, grey as far as the eye could see. She was embracing him but he was asleep wasn't he? Why couldn't he wake up and end this torture? _

_Vincent looked down at her and realized she was no longer breathing. She couldn't be dead, it was only a dream, this wasn't actually happening was it? As he watched, her flesh began to dry and wither like a flower pedal left in the sun. Soon there was only a skeleton left with its eyes dark pits and its mouth agape. He wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything but even movement was beyond him._

"_Lucrecia…"_

Vincent woke up with his heart still pounding. Had that been just a dream? He was breathing hard and he even had tears running down his face. It had been so real; his nightmare was so vivid it had felt as if it had been actually happening. But it wasn't real, was it?

He sat up and tried to shake the thoughts from his head. He'd be thinking about it all day now. Vincent realized he hadn't changed out of his wet clothes he'd worn the day before. He went to change only because his mother would no doubt tell him to if he didn't. Then something hit him. It was Saturday. There was no school today. He also realized that it was only 6a.m. But he couldn't go back to sleep, not now. So he went downstairs to the basement and sat on the yellow couch that, like everthing else, matched something else in the room and was a pastel colour. His parents must have been smoking something when they bought the furniture for the rec room. The television was an old model but it still worked, it, however, didn't match anything. It was just there.

He picked up the remote and turned on the t.v. The news was on. _What else is new, _he thought. Did he want to watch this? Did he want to see all the problems this messed up world had? Vincent just sat there; he wasn't really paying attention.

"In other news, 15 year old James Davis has gone missing from his home in Thunder Bay. Anyone with information regarding James or the possibly related case Lucrecia Campbell is asked to call the police or the tip hotline at 555-TIPS."

Vincent looked up to see a picture of a red headed boy with a crooked smile staring out at him. A picture of Lucrecia then followed. It was her yearbook picture; he remembered that she had just got her hair cut a week before and had wondered if it looked weird. Usually she didn't worry about her hair, it was straight and tended to take care of its self but on this occasion she said she wanted to look halfway decent.

"_**Well, I think you look more than decent everyday, I don't see how a picture matters…" He said as lucrecia brushed her hair in her bathroom.**_

_**She turned around and smiled at him. "Hm…I see what you mean. Call me whatever you want. Maybe I'll start talking like a valley girl now."**_

"_**No, I don't think I will, it may encourage this 'valley girl' personality to show its self," Vincent replied and tried to stop the wave of laughter that was threatening to burst out.**_

"_**Like, this is like, the only time you'll like get to say it."**_

"_**I doubt that. You'll do the same thing next year," he said with a small smile.**_

_**She hugged him and laughed, "You know me too well. Like totally."**_

_**He laughed too and touched her hair. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. **_

_**It didn't really matter if her parents saw them, or at least that was what Lucrecia **said_. **_It had happened once already and it had been horribly embarrasing._**

_(A/N: I will separate different memories that are in sequence by switching the font)_

"_Lucrecia, do you know whe-" Mrs. Campbell began._

_He pulled away and felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. This was her **mother** for god sakes and here he was kissing her! _

"_Uh…I suppose I should be going now…"_

_Vincent went to leave but Lucrecia grabbed him by the shirt collar._

"_Mom…This is Vincent Valentine from my english class…in case you were wondering…we're kind of going out," Lucrecia said fairly calmly until the last part of her sentence, she said that bit very quickly._

_Her mother glanced at both of them with no real discernable expression. _

"_It's nice to meet you Vincent."_

_He briefly wondered if saying my pleasure because in his own mind it could be interpreted wrong. _

"_It's nice to meet you as well Mrs. Campbell."_

_Lucrecia's mother gave them one last look then left the room however she left the door open. She obviously trusted Lucrecia a lot to do that, besides it's not as if they would do anything of **that **nature._

His thoughts changed to those of guilt. Why hadn't he walked her to the door, why hadn't he called her to see if she had gotten home, why hadn't he waited for her to get in the door before driving away? _Lucrecia, why did I let you disapear? You invited me over but I said I couldn't come because I had homework…why didn't I ignore the goddamn homework?_

"Vincent? What are you doing up so early?"

It was his mother. He didn't want to talk to her or anyone. Nobody should talk to him because he was as much of a killer as any person in jail for murder. He let Lucrecia disapear; maybe even let her die. _Do you blame me Lucrecia? If you don't, should you? Why did this have to happen?_

Lucrecia was a good person, she wasn't a drug dealer or a robber or a serial killer so why did this have to happen to her? Why did she have to be the one to disapear without a trace? If there was a god why did he let her get kidnapped and hurt? Vincent had little faith in "God". Even less than he had in the police. Life wasn't fair apparently but why was the world so horrible to people who were caring and always helped others?

There were footsteps as his mother made her way downstairs. He knew she was going to ask the same questions she had just a few minutes ago again but he didn't feel like answering. He probably would eventually, there was no point trying to make his mother stop asking questions by not responding, she would just keep at it until he answered.

"Did you hear me? Why are you up so early? Are you going out somewhere?"

Where he would be going at 6:45 in the morning Vincent didn't know but he answered anyhow.

"Yes. I don't know. No," he answered; giving each of her answers a response in one breath.

She frowned, "But don't your any of your friends ask you to go out anywhere?"

Vincent shrugged. Sure, they asked him but that didn't mean he said yes. He'd probably wake up one day and his mother would say she's set up a play date with one of them. He remembered that Aeris had asked him to go to a movie with her and Cloud today. Of course he had said no but she still asked no matter how many times he refused. They all did.

"_**Hey Vince, I know you're probably still feeling &# up but Shera told me ask if you wanna come watch a goddamn movie with me, her and Aeris."**_

That had been Cid a couple of months after Lucrecia's disapearance. Now he was less sypathetic and just _told _Vincent to go somewhere. It didn't bother him that Cid wasn't sympathetic, he didn't want sympathy. But he didn't want to go out anywhere either. There had been a time when Vincent would have said yes, would have gone out, before all this had happened.

"_**Vincent, do you want to go out everybody tonight, or are you busy?" Lucrecia asked, a slight smile on her face.**_

"**_Who, exactly, is everybody?"_**

"**_Cid, Shera, Aeris, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. Oh, and Yuffie too," She replied as she counted off their friend's names on her fingers._**

"**_Oh, well then yes, if you want to."_**

"**_I'm indifferent to it all. If you want to go then I want to go too," Lucrecia replied with a shrug._**

**_He shrugged his shoulders too, "Alright then. What are we doing?"_**

"…**_Dinner…I think…I don't care, as long as you're paying," she answered jokingly. _**

"**_How about no. What happened to fifty fifty Lucrecia, are you telling me that you're a liar? Isn't chivalry dead?" _**

"**_Yes, us girls killed it. Chivalry I mean," Lucrecia replied with a stabbing motion, "Target has been neutralized."_**

"**_Murderer. Ah, anyway, what time should I pick you up and what do I wear?"_**

"**_Good questions. 7:00 and…nothing too formal or casual, find the happy median Vincent, find it. Oh, and put your hair like…this," she answered and pulled his black hair into a loose ponytail._**

**_Vincent smiled. She always told him to put his hair up but he almost never did. He thought he looked like some poor Hollywood scriptwriter that lived in his parent's basement. _**

"**_No, you don't look like you live in your parent's basement. You look like you live in their house but have just enough money to rent out a proper room in their house, probably your own room," Lucrecia told him. She had a knack for knowing exactly what he was thinking no matter how hard he tried to hide it._**

"**_Wow, that is so very flattering."_**

Things had been so different then; he wanted everything to go back to the way it was before. But it wouldn't. Even if Lucrecia did come back nothing would go back to normal, ever.

"Are you hungry?" his mother asked awkwardly.

"Why don't you tell me?" She already knew he didn't want to eat but still told him he should even if he said a thousand times, "I'm not hungry," She would still insist that he was.

"Why did you run away last night honey?"

"…I was walking. You could have easily caught up to me and dragged me home…If you wanted to," Vincent replied without looking at her.

"Fine, why did you leave?"

"Because I am insane and foolishly believed that if I walked ong enough I would a) die or b) find Lucrecia," he answered. Maybe that was what he had thought at that moment, or maybe he was just angry. Either way he didn't know.

"Are you joking or not? I can never tell with you Vincent."

He shrugged. _That's the point. _He didn't need people thinking he was crazy or that he was sad, that was just stupid sympathy.

"Do you want to go for a drive?"

"Why?" he asked indifferently.

"No reason, just something to do."

_Yes, but what is the point? _Why should it matter whether or not there was something to do?

"I need to talk to you," his mother admitted finally.

"…Then talk."

"Vincent just come with me," she replied almost pleadingly.

He turned to face her and looked her right in the eye. "You want me to talk to you when you lie to me? How do I know when you're lying and when you aren't mother? Do you think I don't hear you when you're on the phone? I know you think I should see Dr. Roberts more and I certainly know that the police have found a body and want me to go see if it is Lucrecia."

Vincent had heard his mother talking on the phone on many occasions. All the times he pretended not to listen or just walked away he remembered what had been said. They had found that body long ago but had been unable to take it out of the crime scene before they gathered all the evidence, which of course had taken weeks.

His mother looked surprised but regained her composure after a moment. "You're right. They have and the Campbells are going to be there too so be on your-"

"Best behaviour."

"Yes. No comments about insanity or dying. Don't upset them more then they probably already are," she finished after the brief interuption.

Upset them? Vincent didn't think they were very fragile people in that sense. Mr and Mrs Campbell were the strongest people he knew, they hadn't plead for Lucrecia to come home if she had run away they just said they had high hopes that she would. They weren't at all the stereotypical parents in crisis. But Vincent didn't say anything; he just nodded.

"Let's go then," his mother said quietly.

Vincent followed his mother as she walked upstairs to the first floor, grabbed her keys off the end table in the front hallway, took her jacket off of the coat rack and walked out the door. Vincent didn't bother getting his coat, he didn't care if it was cold outside as it probably was.

He went outside and noticed the sun was just coming up. Stars were sill visible in the sky; streaks of pink, yellow and purple invaded the place where darkness once ruled. Lucrecia was always doing things like getting up really early to watch the sun rise even if it was freezing or staying up extra late to watch a meteor shower; she liked things like that he remembered. Sometimes she painted what she saw, other times she was simply an observer, ignorant of how the stars or planets were formed or which way the sun rose and set. According to her all the knowledge in the world couldn't make a person see the beauty of small things, things people took for granted. Like the light. After Vincent and Lucrecia had been going out for a few months there had been a blackout. Nobody could see anything inside their homes so most people stayed outside. Everything had been so dark.

"**It makes you wish for the light doesn't it? But really you need the darkness because without it there would be no light. Everything has an opposite. Good, evil, right, wrong, loud, soft. Without each other none of those things would exist. If you take away the wrong in the world how do you know what is right? People take everything for granted don't they?" she had said while lying on the grass looking up at the moonless sky.**

When the lights had come on Vincent almost wished they would go out again. The world did take the light for granted, without it they felt like a tiny speck in a huge universe. They were put in their place. 

He sat in the passenger's seat and didn't say anything. He was thinking about Lucrecia, he was lost in his memories. He had taken her for granted he had assumed she would always be by his side. He could have appreciated her more, gone out of his way to make up something really romantic for her but he wasn't that kind of person and neither was she really. They had done things for each other, spent every waking hour together and told each other how they felt all the time but neither of them got dressed up when they knew the other was comign over. They hadn't bought each other elaborate or expensive gifts. Should he have, was that what she had really wanted? Vincent already knew the answer and was overanalyzing the situation but he couldn't stop himself.

He distracted himself by looking out the window and watching the city go by. Tall buildings whizzed by and houses seemed to blend into one. His mother was driving fast, to scare him maybe.

"The world doesn't revolve around you Vincent."

"I never implied that it did."

"Just how you're acting…are you trying to get attention? Is that what you want?" she asked, glancing his way.

"…On the contrary, that is exactly what I do _not _want. I _want _people to leave me alone."

She looked at him strangely. "Really, well people want to help you not leave you alone. You need help."

"Keep your eyes on the road."

"Don't block me out Vincent, his mother cried shrilly.

"Mother, watch the road."

"Don't change the subject. I'm talking to you!" she yelled.

"Mother."

He grabbed the steering wheel with his left arm and yanked it to the side, which drove the car into a ditch, and out of the way of an oncoming tractor trailor.

His mother was far too distracted by yelling at him to drive. Not only had she been driving in the wrong lane she had almost rammed into the 18-wheeler that she hadn't even seen or heard. Vincent had heard the truck driver honking his horn the second time she had been yelling, how his mother had missed the loud sound he didn't know. She could have killed them both, no; she _would _have killed them both. A small car against a tractor-trailer was hardly a fair fight.

His mother was now staring at him wide eyed and breathing hard. He didn't know if she knew what could have happened right now, maybe she was in shock but he ignored her and took off his seatbelt. Vincent opened the car door and walked over to the driver's side. He opened his mother's door and took off her seatbelt for her as she seemed incapable of doing so herself.

"Get out of the car."

She complied almost immediately so he got in. Vincent was allowed to drive so technically he could hop in a car and drive anytime he wanted without another lisenced driver in the car with him.

The ditch wasn't very deep and it was fairly easy for him to manouver it out of the small trench and keep driving. It was a sort of rural area so everywhere he looked there were farmhouses and open fields.

"I'm sorry," his mother whispered.

He didn't reply to her statement but asked a question of his own. "Where are we going?"

"…To the police station in the next town."

"Why didn't we go to the one in our town?" he asked. _It's an elaborate set up to get me killed isn't it mother? _Vincent had become quite good at making up whole conversations in his head. It wasn't because he was lonely. It was because it was strange trying to imagine what a person would say to completely outrageous comments. He had become an odd person in the last year it seemed.

He did however wonder why the hell they were going to the police station in the next town rather than the most convienient one that was in their own town. Whatever the answer was it was probably a ridiculous one.

"Because the Campbell's want to avoid a lot of publicity."

It made sense but Vincent didn't really think that people would be flocking around the police station just to see if someone had died, they could watch it on the 6 o' clock news.

He continued to drive at a steady pace until they reached the next town and found the police station.

Vincent saw the Campbell's white Ford sedan in the parking lot. He wondered when they had gotten here, maybe way before he and his mother. Lucrecia was their daughter after all. Had they been inside the waiting room for long or had they just drove around for awhile before coming to the station?

He and his mother walked inside the small building with two double doors in the front. The walls inside were pale grey and had blocky letters telling visitors where certain areas were. Vincent highly doubted that anyone could get lost in this place, it was too small.

Lucrecia's parents were sitting in the waiting room. Apparently the police thought that people waiting might like a nice place to sit so there was floral wallpaper and chairs with small cushions on them. It looked more like a doctor's waiting room than a police office where people identified the bodies of their friends and relatives or reported some sort of horrendous crime.

Mrs. Campbell looked pretty upset and for good reason but her husband was at least trying to put on a brave face.

"Sarah, Micheal oh I'm so sorry. I just hope it isn't her," his mother said tearfully.

Everyone was so two faced these days. You couldn't really tell how someone really was just by the way they acted around one person, everybody seemed to have multiple personalities.

Mrs. Campbell stood up and hugged his mother and then Vincent.

"How've you been lately Vincent?" she asked him.

"Alright I suppose…And you ma'am?"

"Sarah, not ma'am. Anyway, you look pale, have you really been alright or is it all just a poorly constructed façade?" Mrs. Campbell asked with a small smile.

He shrugged, "Whatever you want to think."

His mother made a sound in her throat to signal that he was pushing his luck.

"And school, has that been going well?" Mrs. Campbell asked, raising an eyebrow.

"…Not really,"he answered truthfully.

"Are you failing any classes?"

Vincent didn't want to answer but Mrs. Campbell was not a woman to let you slip through the cracks so to speak. So he answered where as if it had been his mother asking he would have avoided answering. Regardless his mother would know what was really going on in school now.

"…Yes…last time I checked I was failing english with 33, science with 24, french with 20 percent and history with 40."

His mother made a kind of choking sound but Lucrecia's mother just shook her head.

"Hm. Well, that's not very good. You are a bright young man, so why is it that you're failing Vincent?" she asked, with no real discernable emotion.

"I don't see the point of it all."

Mrs. Campbell had always been someone he could talk to and even if there were other people in the room, he had no problem telling her exactly what he felt. Of course that probably had to do with the fact that she wasn't his mother and he didn't see her all the time. Plus she wasn't an overbearing person, merely concerned.

"Well if I don't hear that passed all of your classes at the end of semester when Lucrecia gets back I'll have to forbid you to see her."

She still had hope that Lucrecia would come back? Why did she but no one else did, were they all afraid to get their hopes up? He guessed that parents always held out some hope that their child would return even if they knew they wouldn't. Vincent didn't know if Lucrecia was coming back but he would always wait for her even if she were dead. If Lucrecia was dead…what would happen? Vincent had been thinking of that a lot lately. He just couldn't think of anything else. What would he do if she were dead? Would he keep going on like this or would he eventually just get over it? While Vincent was thinking of that a police officer came up and led them to the morgue.

Vicnent's heart was pounding as he walked. It was so loud he thought that if anyone stopped and listened hard enough they would hear it too. If it were her…everything would change…nothing would be the same again. He was scared of what would happen. Vincent tried to keep his head down so that nobody would see the fear in his eyes.

When they got to the morgue, which wasn't very far from the waiting room, he closed his eyes. The walk here had felt like it had taken forever though it had probably only taken about 2 minutes. Vincent refused to look. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to see. So many thoughts were running through his head all at once and he couldn't stop them. In a way he wished it were her just so he wouldn't have to wonder anymore but the other part of him hoped it wasn't her because he didn't want her to be dead.

"Vincent…please look and see if it's her," Mrs. Campbell's voice said through the darkness. Her speech revealed nothing and he hated her for being so calm while his thoughts and emotions were running away with him. He had to know but he didn't want to.

Dread and panic filled him but he tried not to let on when he opened his eyes. Vincent took a deep breath. Was it Lucrecia? Did he dare look? He glanced up and gasped despite himself.

* * *

HA! End of CHAPTER 3! Cliffhanger! YES! Sorry, I love doing that. Anyway, any theories as to whether it's her or not? Hm? Let me know if you thought this chapter was cruddy and I won't necessarily change this one but I'll fix the things in the next chapter. I have some of the 4th chapter written but after that…I'll have to start writing it on the computer. Anyway, next chapter the story will begin to wind down (did it even wind up in the first place?) until it gets to the conclusion which should be in a few chapters. Maybe even the 5th. Not sure. Anyway, anyone who reviews this thanks so much. oh and by the way, just because Vincent is scared does not make him that ooc! he is allowed to be afraid! 


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